Let’s host family!
You could probably find the above title somewhere in Japan—they really like doing that. (Let’s~~).
Anyway, on Saturday, June 27th, I spent the day with my host family. Even though I was still sick, it was a pretty good day. I met my host mother and one of the sisters at 1 in front of Building 47 (aka where I live). I was kind of nervous—it’s really hard conversing with only a year or so of Japanese. You can do basic stuff, but if you listen to regular speech, at best you will be able to get the gist. Just like English, Japanese leave out words, shorten things, and use slang, which even varies by region.
They mostly asked me questions while we were in the car. We got on the subject of music I like, and they got excited when I mentioned I like Orange Range (オレンジレンジ)。I didn’t realize they were so popular, and they’re not actually one of my main favorites. Luckily, the conversation was only about as nerve-wracking for me as a conversation in English with complete strangers would have been.
We did some sight-seeing: Oyama Jinja, an old samurai house, and we walked around the older district of Kanazawa. After that, we went to a big mall, which was pretty interesting—though it wasn’t too different than American malls. We took pictures at a photo booth that was WAY more advanced than anything I’ve seen in the US. You could even draw pictures and write on them afterward with some sort of photo editor outside the booth part. After that, we headed to a supermarket. Carts here are tiny, and instead of the bars being close together in order to hold the groceries, they simply put in a basket for that specific purpose. It’s kind of hard to explain, and I’m not sure why they do that…I never saw anybody actually carrying a basket, anyway.
We got a bunch of stuff for the dinner—chicken, fish, shrimp, carrots, a big apple, part of a watermelon, cucumber, nori for the sushi, etc. There was more than that even… After that we went to their house—and it was big--REALLY big for a Japanese house. I think the grandfather, mother, father, two daughters, and one of the daughter’s 1 year old live there. I’m not sure if the daughter’s husband lives in the house too… Japanese family structure is a bit complicated, but I’ll get into that another time in a culture post. FYI, in Japan, you’re an ‘adult’ when you’ve gotten married, NOT when you’ve moved out of your parents’ house as it is in America. That difference actually really changes cultural expectations. I’ll also get to that later.
The youngest family member is Souta-kun, the 1-year-old. He was ADORABLE. Sometimes he was shy, but he’d also start laughing out of nowhere about the goofiest things, like most American kids. He was pretty smart, too. Technically he’s 18 months, but I still feel like he was ahead of the curve. His mom is Rumi, and she’s 25. Then Misato, who I spent most of the day with, is 20 and also goes to KIT. The grandfather was early 80s, and he kind of just did his own thing. Then there was the mother and father. The father was the hardest to understand, but the mother and Misato generally tried to use Japanese they thought I would understand. Plus, Misato had a sweet electronic dictionary, so when we frequently ran into a verbal roadblocks, it was really, really useful. Clark-sensei said that many students and working adults in general have those dictionaries that have a bunch of functions besides merely translating.
Dinner was delicious. We made our own sushi, and they also had soumen, cold Japanese ramen noodles, along with a sort of potato salad that was pretty delicious, too. For desert there was fruit with my host mother cut up—the apple was cut up in a really interesting way that I’d never seen before. So much attention is paid to appearance here, it’s pretty impressive.
After dinner, we rested in the living room for a bit. Just before we left to take me back to my apartment, my host mother gave me omiyage (gifts/souvenirs), which I totally wasn’t expecting. I got a beautiful fan, a postcard of sorts that has a message written in Japanese calligraphy that talks about a once-in-a-lifetime meaning, and Misato had picked out her favorite candies, ChocoBouru (ChocoBall), for me as a gift. I had actually been there when my host mom picked out the card, so I knew I didn’t do anything that made them feel like they needed to give me another gift. For example, if you admire something too much, Japanese will feel indebted to give it to you. Or, if you hand them two separate gifts, they’ll feel like they need to give you two back. Gift-giving is also much more complicated in Japan than in the US, as you can see.
They drove me back around 9. I think I was one of the last to get back, so I was pretty glad I got to spend a good full day with them. I’m really glad I got to meet them, I just wish my Japanese had been better so I could have communicated more!
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Things about Japan you probably didn't know: Edition 1
I may have mentioned before that my favorite class is Scott Clark-sensei's Culture class. We spend a few hours simply asking him random questions, and him responding with stories or valuable information you wouldn't have a clue on unless you'd lived in Japan for a good while. Clark-sensei has been living on and off in Japan since sometime in the 1960s, so he knows quite a bit. I want to share some of the stories and random information he told us--some of it is just priceless...
-Red is a power color in Japan. You don't see people wearing it often, and if they are it's because it's for a sporting event or something like that. He says they wear a lot of red underwear, though. ;)
-People in Japan may avoid you, not because they don't want to talk to you, but because they can't anticipate your needs as a Westerner. One time (probably many) Clark-sensei would call and ask if they had rooms in Japanese (he's pretty fluent, after all). After they've already said yes, they ask for his name--and when he gave it to them, there was an audible pause. They asked him, you know we only use chopsticks right? And we don't have western style accomodations! Etc. It's almost funny--they want to serve you, but Japanese are expected to know what the other party wants without asking. You can imagine how hard that is. This idea may also apply if someone is afraid you will start talking to them in English--if they're not good, they may try to avoid you!
-Eating while walking around was likened to mooning people in public--however, you still see it occasionally. This is why you see people buy drinks at vending machines and down them right there!
-In business deals, switching to casual form by accident (from polite form--and that's not even the most polite) may be interpreted as an insult and can cause a deal to fall through. Out of context, it can feel like swearing.
-Sales tax started in the 90s. Right now, it's at 5%.
-Many times you will hear the following: the customer is greater than the seller. Service is number 1 in Japan.
-Why is Japanese currency pronounced 'yen' by westerners when there is no 'ye' sound in Japanese? On the contrary, 'ye' in hiragana actually DID exist at one point. Interestingly enough, 'ye' was falling out of use when the currency was named 'yen', but it still stuck. In Japan, it is simply pronounced 'en'.
-Japanese do not live longer because of what they eat--it's because their healthcare system is far superior to the US. Did you know that of all industrialized countries, the US has the highest infant mortality rate. Many times already I've heard our healthcare system described as broken or an 'un-healthcare system' by Clark-sensei. It's been pretty interesting to hear. When one of the exchange students got sick, he paid around 350 dollars for care that would have cost thousands in the US--and that was because he wasn't insured! It would have been cheaper otherwise! Clark-sensei says the healthcare system here is quite good--and the only way to fix the US healthcare system is probably to start over. I believe it was Taiwan that recently restructured their entire system from scratch--it IS possible. Here's an article to give some more veracity to this--http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89651916
-What is masculine here differs from the US. Here, it's actually normal for older 20-somethings to get drunk and start bawling--it doesn't garner the same reaction as it would in the US. Styling their hair and wearing certain types of clothes here isn't considered 'gay'--though it doesn't stray too too far--it's not like guys wear dresses or anything.
-Be careful when you use the word westernization with regards to Japan's history in the last 200 years--it has a different meaning to them. More like 'modernization' than westernization, really. And also, they modernized in 1868, not after WWII like some people say.
-Japan actually tried to surrender during WWII, however the US stubbornly wanted unconditional surrender. The Japanese only asked that the Emperor not be killed. He never even was, however, the US refused. Soon after, the atomic bombs were dropped. Coincidence? A bit doubtful...
-Many Japanese do not know their military history fully, just as is probably true in the United States. They feel victims of their government with regards to the war--and it's kind of understandable.
-Japan was actually further ahead (approximately 6-8 months) in designing an atomic bomb than the US. However, they need uranium which could not be gotten in Japan. An American sub sank a shipment sent by the Germans to Japan that secretly carried the necessary uranium, thus crippling Japan's plans. We know this because the plans have been studied by those who know the field, and they said there was no technical reason otherwise that might have prevented them from completing it first. This knowledge isn't to say that the outcome might have been the better one--you never can be sure what might have happened. It's just an interesting tidbit.
-Red is a power color in Japan. You don't see people wearing it often, and if they are it's because it's for a sporting event or something like that. He says they wear a lot of red underwear, though. ;)
-People in Japan may avoid you, not because they don't want to talk to you, but because they can't anticipate your needs as a Westerner. One time (probably many) Clark-sensei would call and ask if they had rooms in Japanese (he's pretty fluent, after all). After they've already said yes, they ask for his name--and when he gave it to them, there was an audible pause. They asked him, you know we only use chopsticks right? And we don't have western style accomodations! Etc. It's almost funny--they want to serve you, but Japanese are expected to know what the other party wants without asking. You can imagine how hard that is. This idea may also apply if someone is afraid you will start talking to them in English--if they're not good, they may try to avoid you!
-Eating while walking around was likened to mooning people in public--however, you still see it occasionally. This is why you see people buy drinks at vending machines and down them right there!
-In business deals, switching to casual form by accident (from polite form--and that's not even the most polite) may be interpreted as an insult and can cause a deal to fall through. Out of context, it can feel like swearing.
-Sales tax started in the 90s. Right now, it's at 5%.
-Many times you will hear the following: the customer is greater than the seller. Service is number 1 in Japan.
-Why is Japanese currency pronounced 'yen' by westerners when there is no 'ye' sound in Japanese? On the contrary, 'ye' in hiragana actually DID exist at one point. Interestingly enough, 'ye' was falling out of use when the currency was named 'yen', but it still stuck. In Japan, it is simply pronounced 'en'.
-Japanese do not live longer because of what they eat--it's because their healthcare system is far superior to the US. Did you know that of all industrialized countries, the US has the highest infant mortality rate. Many times already I've heard our healthcare system described as broken or an 'un-healthcare system' by Clark-sensei. It's been pretty interesting to hear. When one of the exchange students got sick, he paid around 350 dollars for care that would have cost thousands in the US--and that was because he wasn't insured! It would have been cheaper otherwise! Clark-sensei says the healthcare system here is quite good--and the only way to fix the US healthcare system is probably to start over. I believe it was Taiwan that recently restructured their entire system from scratch--it IS possible. Here's an article to give some more veracity to this--http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89651916
-What is masculine here differs from the US. Here, it's actually normal for older 20-somethings to get drunk and start bawling--it doesn't garner the same reaction as it would in the US. Styling their hair and wearing certain types of clothes here isn't considered 'gay'--though it doesn't stray too too far--it's not like guys wear dresses or anything.
-Be careful when you use the word westernization with regards to Japan's history in the last 200 years--it has a different meaning to them. More like 'modernization' than westernization, really. And also, they modernized in 1868, not after WWII like some people say.
-Japan actually tried to surrender during WWII, however the US stubbornly wanted unconditional surrender. The Japanese only asked that the Emperor not be killed. He never even was, however, the US refused. Soon after, the atomic bombs were dropped. Coincidence? A bit doubtful...
-Many Japanese do not know their military history fully, just as is probably true in the United States. They feel victims of their government with regards to the war--and it's kind of understandable.
-Japan was actually further ahead (approximately 6-8 months) in designing an atomic bomb than the US. However, they need uranium which could not be gotten in Japan. An American sub sank a shipment sent by the Germans to Japan that secretly carried the necessary uranium, thus crippling Japan's plans. We know this because the plans have been studied by those who know the field, and they said there was no technical reason otherwise that might have prevented them from completing it first. This knowledge isn't to say that the outcome might have been the better one--you never can be sure what might have happened. It's just an interesting tidbit.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Well, I’ve been sick all week basically.
It was hard enough keeping up with my journal when I was healthy! I’m going to have to do a lot of summaries, either due to time constraints or since I just didn’t write stuff down.
All the way back on June 13th, we received our Japanese Windows Vista laptops—immensely helpful. The lack of wi-fi kinda sucks, but it’s not such a huge deal. Wi-fi hasn’t hit here nearly as much, yet. It’s funny because Japan is so advanced in many other respects technology-wise. That day was also the day I was placed in class 3, the higher of the two here at KIT-IJST. (Kanazawa Institute of Technology-Intensive Program for Japanese in Science and Technology—I think.) They actually eliminated class 1 and sort of combined class 1 and 2—which is funny cuz the main complaint I heard was that class 3 was too hard. Anyway, most of that class has had 2 years of Japanese, so we’re definitely behind already. It’s been tougher because there’s stuff most of the class knows that only a small handful including me doesn’t.
Random awkward pic from this gyouza place. (dumplings, sort of)
Right, so, June 14th was our field trip with the SGE kids. We went to Kenrokuen—one of the three famous gardens of Japan.
On the way there we got to try some azuki (sweet red bean) popsicles—weird but surprisingly not bad. It was really pretty, I recommend checking out the pictures on Facebook that I will post. Afterward, we went to the 21st Century Art Museum, which was small but interesting. 
Um... it was Ricky's birthday? ;P
Friday, the 19th, we got up a little early in order to start our ‘journey’ to Anamizu, where KiT’s Anamizu Bay Seminary House is. I’m still not exactly clear on what the purpose of the place is…but they had a boat. That was cool. Oh right, on the way we stopped at the Karakuri…Kenkan? Er… I don’t know what the word is… Basically, Wikipedia can tell you what karakuri is—I’ll simplify a lot and say it was the precursor to modern robotics. Sort of. Nearby, we picked up some shouyu ice cream (soy sauce). Yes. And no, it actually tasted like salty caramel! Pretty weird. It was a specialty place, I’m pretty sure. Hm…Not much to say about Nanao Fisherman’s Wharf…we weren’t there very long. Then, Anamizu. Right, the boat.
Not bad but....
(The awkwardness level of several of these pics was pretty high haha.)
Ricky's puffing as usual, haha. That's Uotate-sensei on the right.
All the way back on June 13th, we received our Japanese Windows Vista laptops—immensely helpful. The lack of wi-fi kinda sucks, but it’s not such a huge deal. Wi-fi hasn’t hit here nearly as much, yet. It’s funny because Japan is so advanced in many other respects technology-wise. That day was also the day I was placed in class 3, the higher of the two here at KIT-IJST. (Kanazawa Institute of Technology-Intensive Program for Japanese in Science and Technology—I think.) They actually eliminated class 1 and sort of combined class 1 and 2—which is funny cuz the main complaint I heard was that class 3 was too hard. Anyway, most of that class has had 2 years of Japanese, so we’re definitely behind already. It’s been tougher because there’s stuff most of the class knows that only a small handful including me doesn’t.
Random awkward pic from this gyouza place. (dumplings, sort of)Right, so, June 14th was our field trip with the SGE kids. We went to Kenrokuen—one of the three famous gardens of Japan.
On the way there we got to try some azuki (sweet red bean) popsicles—weird but surprisingly not bad. It was really pretty, I recommend checking out the pictures on Facebook that I will post. Afterward, we went to the 21st Century Art Museum, which was small but interesting.
Salt! The whole maze-room was made with salt!
After that, we went to Kanazawa-jo, or Kanazawa Castle. However, unfortunately we couldn’t go inside because it was closed. We looked around the grounds quite a bit though. It’s an impressive white castle, and the surrounding area is pretty. We saw three of the top sights in the Kanazawa area all in one day, which was pretty impressive too. That night, we went to TonTon Ramen, a place that specializes in spicy ramen. 
Gen (Not Jen), one of the SGE guys, got a 6 on the 10 scale and was sweating. Deven got a 10 and had Gen try it and the poor guy freaked out and gagged and had to down his water pretty quickly. A few other ryuugakusei tried it and said—yeah, it’s spicy, but not horrible. Totally opposite reaction, haha.
So jump to the 16th. We had the science and tech class, which is basically learning technical language through action—like folding origami. Words like reverse, fold, return, unfold, etc etc. Also this is our big project class. Then culture class with Scott Clark-sensei. He’s a Rose-Hulmann teacher who’s accumulated many years in Japan from his many off and on stays since several decades ago. I think he said the longest he lived here at once was 2 years? His class is pretty interesting. I’ll post more on some of those classes because in themselves they are really interesting and informative (sorry, boring word! Useful maybe?).
On the 18th, we met our host families—or part of them at least. I’m going to skim over that cuz I’ll talk about my actual home visit (which was today!) later on. Oh right, that night we also went to karaoke! It was really fun, I’m sure we’ll go soon again. Gen works there and was nice enough to get everybody a several hundred yen discount. It’s pretty much pay a flat rate, get unlimited drinks and songs (or at least till when they close if the do?). We stayed till midnight…
Gen (Not Jen), one of the SGE guys, got a 6 on the 10 scale and was sweating. Deven got a 10 and had Gen try it and the poor guy freaked out and gagged and had to down his water pretty quickly. A few other ryuugakusei tried it and said—yeah, it’s spicy, but not horrible. Totally opposite reaction, haha.So jump to the 16th. We had the science and tech class, which is basically learning technical language through action—like folding origami. Words like reverse, fold, return, unfold, etc etc. Also this is our big project class. Then culture class with Scott Clark-sensei. He’s a Rose-Hulmann teacher who’s accumulated many years in Japan from his many off and on stays since several decades ago. I think he said the longest he lived here at once was 2 years? His class is pretty interesting. I’ll post more on some of those classes because in themselves they are really interesting and informative (sorry, boring word! Useful maybe?).
On the 18th, we met our host families—or part of them at least. I’m going to skim over that cuz I’ll talk about my actual home visit (which was today!) later on. Oh right, that night we also went to karaoke! It was really fun, I’m sure we’ll go soon again. Gen works there and was nice enough to get everybody a several hundred yen discount. It’s pretty much pay a flat rate, get unlimited drinks and songs (or at least till when they close if the do?). We stayed till midnight…
Um... it was Ricky's birthday? ;PFriday, the 19th, we got up a little early in order to start our ‘journey’ to Anamizu, where KiT’s Anamizu Bay Seminary House is. I’m still not exactly clear on what the purpose of the place is…but they had a boat. That was cool. Oh right, on the way we stopped at the Karakuri…Kenkan? Er… I don’t know what the word is… Basically, Wikipedia can tell you what karakuri is—I’ll simplify a lot and say it was the precursor to modern robotics. Sort of. Nearby, we picked up some shouyu ice cream (soy sauce). Yes. And no, it actually tasted like salty caramel! Pretty weird. It was a specialty place, I’m pretty sure. Hm…Not much to say about Nanao Fisherman’s Wharf…we weren’t there very long. Then, Anamizu. Right, the boat.
Not bad but....(The awkwardness level of several of these pics was pretty high haha.)Ricky's puffing as usual, haha. That's Uotate-sensei on the right.
After the boat, we played some in the gym. Then after that, barbeque—I had something called saizai, which I am suspecting is actually snail and only Joy seemed to like it. But they had lots of other good meat and veggies. I’ll throw in a partial group photo from the next morning, but I think I’m going to leave last Saturday to this Saturday’s happenings to another post (trust me, there will be less cuz I was SICK, but that didn’t stop me from going on Tuesday’s field trip (yes another one) for our JST class). Of course, the next day I missed class, but that’s another matter… Daijoubu yo!
All pictures pertaining to this post:]
Thursday, June 18, 2009
June 12th, Nishikawa Heights, Friday 12:01 AM
So today at 10 we had our living orientation. An hour to an hour and a half later the meeting ended. We decided to meet for lunch at the cafeteria, which strangely is called Vulcan. We met Joy, Deven, Tyler, and John. (When I say ‘we’, it generally means me, Matt, Max, and Xin Cai). After a minor upset (aka not knowing what we were supposed to do) we got meal tickets (しょっけん) from vending machines at the ‘entrance’ to the cafeteria. I got Curry Ramen for 280円…so $2.90 or so. It was REALLY good, especially for that price.
It was interesting eating in the cafeteria. I saw a few girls outside, relatively, but inside it seemed like ALL engineering guys. I wish I could have snapped pictures, but I didn’t want to be rude. But yeah, good food seems to be a standard. It has shown me just what crap American food is—it’s just that everyone’s grown up eating it, and they don’t realize how much better it could be. Anyway, afterward, we picked up our luggage from Building 1 (一号館). Finally! Clean clothes. After that, it was early afternoon. We had the rest of the day off, so we decided to walk around.
First we went to Ohgigaoka’s Post Office (yuubinkyoku or ゆうびんきょく). I took out some money… can’t wait to see what that is in dollars. Hopefully no more than $165. Next, we wandered through part of the north campus. It was pretty impressive actually.
On the east edge, we found a parking lot. A parking lot full of LOTS and LOTS of bikes. We couldn’t believe it. 
There was a section to the left with numerous motor bikes, but the regular bike section was INSANE. We walked a while till we found a 100 Yen Shop (百円), but really it felt more like a supermarket. We aimed for the other 100 yen shop on our map, which proved to be MUCH farther away than we expected. On the way, we visited a neat electronics store, but nothing too fancy. Then the next shop proved to be more fruitful. It was amazing to see all of the things they had. I got a small bag which has a bunch of uplifting English (mostly) sayings for groceries, a small notepad with pen, a souvenir pad, a pair of scissors, and wrapping paper, all for 525 yen. 
After we looked around for quite a while, we tried to walk back.
We somewhat accidentally found GEO, a used game, music, and DVD store. I couldn’t find any Super Famicon games I’d wanted, but I did see Mega Man Soccer. Finally, we got back to Nishikawa Heights. Soon after, we met again for dinner. We ran into a Caucasian, 30 or so woman who must work here, on the corner not far away. We tried one of her suggestions—DON, down a few blocks and towards campus. We spent half an hour trying to figure out the menu, and I’m pretty sure we annoyed the 2 guys that worked there, not that we meant to. We had 2 intermediate students Xin Cai and Joy, but it was still hard. I ended up with soy sauce ramen, sort of by accident, but it worked. 400 yen for a giant bowl. We went back near 8 and decided to study in one of the lounges.
We mostly reviewed kanji on matt’s Ipod Touch, and the group grew pretty big. Almost half the group was there I’d say. We also just hung out till a bit after 10. Xin Cai had these cool speakers that look like a small canister. You set one end on a flat surface, and that’s how the sound is spread—through whatever you place it on. It sounded like a radio on some surfaces. Really cool. She bought it in Singapore before the trip, or maybe Hong Kong for around $90 or something like that. Anyway, time to sleep, じゃあまた！--12:35 ＡＭ
It was interesting eating in the cafeteria. I saw a few girls outside, relatively, but inside it seemed like ALL engineering guys. I wish I could have snapped pictures, but I didn’t want to be rude. But yeah, good food seems to be a standard. It has shown me just what crap American food is—it’s just that everyone’s grown up eating it, and they don’t realize how much better it could be. Anyway, afterward, we picked up our luggage from Building 1 (一号館). Finally! Clean clothes. After that, it was early afternoon. We had the rest of the day off, so we decided to walk around.
First we went to Ohgigaoka’s Post Office (yuubinkyoku or ゆうびんきょく). I took out some money… can’t wait to see what that is in dollars. Hopefully no more than $165. Next, we wandered through part of the north campus. It was pretty impressive actually.
On the east edge, we found a parking lot. A parking lot full of LOTS and LOTS of bikes. We couldn’t believe it. There was a section to the left with numerous motor bikes, but the regular bike section was INSANE. We walked a while till we found a 100 Yen Shop (百円), but really it felt more like a supermarket. We aimed for the other 100 yen shop on our map, which proved to be MUCH farther away than we expected. On the way, we visited a neat electronics store, but nothing too fancy. Then the next shop proved to be more fruitful. It was amazing to see all of the things they had. I got a small bag which has a bunch of uplifting English (mostly) sayings for groceries, a small notepad with pen, a souvenir pad, a pair of scissors, and wrapping paper, all for 525 yen. After we looked around for quite a while, we tried to walk back.We somewhat accidentally found GEO, a used game, music, and DVD store. I couldn’t find any Super Famicon games I’d wanted, but I did see Mega Man Soccer. Finally, we got back to Nishikawa Heights. Soon after, we met again for dinner. We ran into a Caucasian, 30 or so woman who must work here, on the corner not far away. We tried one of her suggestions—DON, down a few blocks and towards campus. We spent half an hour trying to figure out the menu, and I’m pretty sure we annoyed the 2 guys that worked there, not that we meant to. We had 2 intermediate students Xin Cai and Joy, but it was still hard. I ended up with soy sauce ramen, sort of by accident, but it worked. 400 yen for a giant bowl. We went back near 8 and decided to study in one of the lounges.
We mostly reviewed kanji on matt’s Ipod Touch, and the group grew pretty big. Almost half the group was there I’d say. We also just hung out till a bit after 10. Xin Cai had these cool speakers that look like a small canister. You set one end on a flat surface, and that’s how the sound is spread—through whatever you place it on. It sounded like a radio on some surfaces. Really cool. She bought it in Singapore before the trip, or maybe Hong Kong for around $90 or something like that. Anyway, time to sleep, じゃあまた！--12:35 ＡＭWednesday, June 17, 2009
June 11th Thursday, 1:00 AM
Kanazawa is MUCH more urbanized than I expected. (Don’t be confused however, we will attend Kanazawa Kougyou Daigaku, or Kanazawa Institute of Technology, but it is actually in the neighboring suburb of Ohgigaoka—technically Oogigaoka, I think.) Kanazawa station itself was pretty amazing. 
We mainly walked around, and eventually decided to eat—but we couldn’t decide where. It was nearing 8 o’clock, and many restaurants were closing, so we made a somewhat obvious, safe, and relatively cheap choice—McDonald’s. I just got a cheeseburger and fries and a drink because I wanted to see if a regular oldcheeseburger was different in Japan. Verdict? Not much of a difference. I thought I could taste a big more pepper, but that was it. Coke (Coca-cola however, is slightly less sweet here, but it was good. The fries were salty—actually a little TOO salty. The others tried the teriyaki burger, but I couldn’t really tell if they liked it. Max said it might have been a sausage patty with a special sauce, and not a hamburger per se. I’m not big on teriyaki, so I left that for next time. Afterwards, we sat outside the front of the station. Gradually, we met up with people also taking the free shuttle at 10 pm. Finally, the bus came and we were on our way. We briefly (and awkward) met a few SGE (Students for Global Exchange) students, and one showed us how to lay a futon. SGE kids are basically here to help us out, and maybe make friends. 
We settled in a bit, but then my roommate, Naomi from Rose Hulman Institute of Technology, asked if I wanted to go to the conbini (コンビニ) which is short for convenience store. I only bought a big bottle of water—we still need soap and a rag for dishes. Well, I’m tired, and we have orientation tomorrow (ashita or 明日) at 10. Time to brush my teeth and sleep! – 1:14 AM
We settled in a bit, but then my roommate, Naomi from Rose Hulman Institute of Technology, asked if I wanted to go to the conbini (コンビニ) which is short for convenience store. I only bought a big bottle of water—we still need soap and a rag for dishes. Well, I’m tired, and we have orientation tomorrow (ashita or 明日) at 10. Time to brush my teeth and sleep! – 1:14 AMSunday, June 14, 2009
June 10, Wednesday 1:28 pm, Shin-Osaka Station
We found J-Hoppers after about an hour last night. There were a lot of people on bikes, and still plenty of people in suits walking around, although the city was definitely quiet.
We went to sleep around 1：30. I woke up a few times through the night, but it was pretty comfortable.
I got up around 8:15 and showered. Looking out the window in our room, I could see many people walking by with umbrellas. I really like the clear ones.
We checked out around 10:30 after everyone had showered. We wandered outside looking for breakfast. A lot of people seemed to look at me first, probably because my hair’s not dark brown or black. We eventually decided on heading under Fukushima Station. Most places were closed still, but at an intersection, we found a breakfast joint. Outside were the famous fake displays of food.
It’s really amazing how realistic they look—it’s only the texture that looks a little off sometimes. After about 10 minutes of staring at the food outside, we finally went in. The whole place was run by one older Japanese man, and there were quite a few people for such a small place. I got the ‘ham-egg-toast’, or in katakana, the ‘alphabet’ for foreign words, ハムエッグチイズ [ha-mu-e-ggu-chi-i-zu]. Double letters means you sort of hold that syllable. It turned out to be a kind of sandwich.
Afterward, we wandered around, eventually resting in a big hotel/department store lobby. After maybe 20 minutes, we went to nearby Osaka station and bought 160 yen tickets to Shin-Osaka station. The train was very smooth. We crossed a bridge over water to get there, which I hadn’t expected.. We arrived, hung around a bit, and then bought drinks from a vending machine (jidouhanbaiki or じどうはんばいき).
I got a water from 110 yen, and it was icy and as tasteless as anything can get, which was good. Finally we decided to go sit in the waiting area near a bunch of shops and cafes. We’re probably grabbing a train, the Raicho, to Kanazawa at 4:15 or so. Right now it’s about 1:45—we might go into the gift shop/food area soon. That’s it for now.
All photos can be found at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=266917&id=736370424&l=37441abaf1
We went to sleep around 1：30. I woke up a few times through the night, but it was pretty comfortable.
I got up around 8:15 and showered. Looking out the window in our room, I could see many people walking by with umbrellas. I really like the clear ones.
We checked out around 10:30 after everyone had showered. We wandered outside looking for breakfast. A lot of people seemed to look at me first, probably because my hair’s not dark brown or black. We eventually decided on heading under Fukushima Station. Most places were closed still, but at an intersection, we found a breakfast joint. Outside were the famous fake displays of food.
It’s really amazing how realistic they look—it’s only the texture that looks a little off sometimes. After about 10 minutes of staring at the food outside, we finally went in. The whole place was run by one older Japanese man, and there were quite a few people for such a small place. I got the ‘ham-egg-toast’, or in katakana, the ‘alphabet’ for foreign words, ハムエッグチイズ [ha-mu-e-ggu-chi-i-zu]. Double letters means you sort of hold that syllable. It turned out to be a kind of sandwich.
Afterward, we wandered around, eventually resting in a big hotel/department store lobby. After maybe 20 minutes, we went to nearby Osaka station and bought 160 yen tickets to Shin-Osaka station. The train was very smooth. We crossed a bridge over water to get there, which I hadn’t expected.. We arrived, hung around a bit, and then bought drinks from a vending machine (jidouhanbaiki or じどうはんばいき).
I got a water from 110 yen, and it was icy and as tasteless as anything can get, which was good. Finally we decided to go sit in the waiting area near a bunch of shops and cafes. We’re probably grabbing a train, the Raicho, to Kanazawa at 4:15 or so. Right now it’s about 1:45—we might go into the gift shop/food area soon. That’s it for now.All photos can be found at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=266917&id=736370424&l=37441abaf1
Friday, June 12, 2009
June 9th 11:26 pm Japan Time
NOTE: We just received our laptops today. I've been here for...almost 4 days. I'm going to try to post as much as possible, and I've already got a backlog of around 5 more entries. Please stay tuned! Also, feel free to request information--like if you want me to add more about certain parts of our trips, or add more Japanese words and specific content, etc. I'll be happy to do what I can!
We're now on a 'limousine bus' which goes from Kansai International Airport near Osaka train station. Originally, we were supposed to arrive at 3:20 at Kansai... Our first flight was delayed a half hour in total, thanks to the fuel pump being full of rain from the night's thunderstorm, and heavy traffic and a low ceiling in San Francisco. We arrived at our next gate in SF after literally crossing the entirety of the airport. Our next flight left relatively on time. However, 45 minutes in, we were notified that we were turning around. Supposedly the fuel filter wasn’t working right. For a good part of the flight back, we were dropping fuel in order to be light enough to land. When we arrived (again, they checked the fuel filter, but nothing was wrong with it. They ran the engine, and finally decided that the plane was unsafe to fly. We were told to get off and wait for instructions a few gates down. 3 o’clock we were told, but that changed soon after to 6 o’clock, which was when the crew and captain would be ready to go. So, we had 3 hours to sit around the airport. At 6ish western time, we finally took off, 6 and a half hours after we were originally scheduled. We arrived in Japan at approximately 9:15 pm Japan time on June 9th, which was this past Tuesday.
Kansai International Airport
I got stopped at Quarantine (pretty scary) due to my stuffy nose as well as the fact that I’d had a fever in the last week. Thankfully, my temperature was normal when they took it. I didn’t have the other symptoms of swine flu, but I was starting to doubt it was just allergies. I’m better now, so I think whatever I had passed and now it really IS just allergies. They sent me over to a little side room where a doctor very brokenly talked to me. I told him it was allergies, and they took my temperature with a thermometer where it just shines a red light and calculates the surface temperature of whatever it touches. That was pretty nerve-wracking, but I’m here!
We met the other member of our group, Xin Cai, around 9:45 since she had arrived over 12 hours earlier from Singapore. We used takyuubin, which is the Japanese parcel forwarding system, to deliver our big suitcases to the apartments in Kanazawa. It wouldn’t arrive until Thursday since we had arrived so late, which at the time was the day after tomorrow, so we had to rely on what we had packed in our carry-ons. It cost about 3400 yen to send both my bags, which is probably around 36 dollars or so. It was cheaper than I expected.
Insert from Right Now—We had reservations to stay at a hostel called J-Hoppers Osaka Central. From the airport, we ended up taking a ‘limousine’ bus instead of the train because the one we would have taken didn’t seem to be running anymore. The ride was 1500 yen for about an hour ride. For those unfamiliar, the optimal exchange rate is 100 yen to a dollar. Basically a yen to a penny. However, last I checked the dollar was pretty weak. Before we left, it was 94 or 95 yen to the dollar.
Back to Journal—We probably have a out a half hour till we get to Osaka station, from which we’ll walk 15 to 20 minutes to J-Hoppers. Guess we’ll shower in the morning?... We’ll leave tomorrow around 5 to get to Kanazawa…Finally. –From a bus in Osaka
We met the other member of our group, Xin Cai, around 9:45 since she had arrived over 12 hours earlier from Singapore. We used takyuubin, which is the Japanese parcel forwarding system, to deliver our big suitcases to the apartments in Kanazawa. It wouldn’t arrive until Thursday since we had arrived so late, which at the time was the day after tomorrow, so we had to rely on what we had packed in our carry-ons. It cost about 3400 yen to send both my bags, which is probably around 36 dollars or so. It was cheaper than I expected.
Insert from Right Now—We had reservations to stay at a hostel called J-Hoppers Osaka Central. From the airport, we ended up taking a ‘limousine’ bus instead of the train because the one we would have taken didn’t seem to be running anymore. The ride was 1500 yen for about an hour ride. For those unfamiliar, the optimal exchange rate is 100 yen to a dollar. Basically a yen to a penny. However, last I checked the dollar was pretty weak. Before we left, it was 94 or 95 yen to the dollar.
Back to Journal—We probably have a out a half hour till we get to Osaka station, from which we’ll walk 15 to 20 minutes to J-Hoppers. Guess we’ll shower in the morning?... We’ll leave tomorrow around 5 to get to Kanazawa…Finally. –From a bus in Osaka
Final Note : Doing this took an insane amount of time... I'm going to have to either switch sites, or just link you guys to the photos. Blogger is surprisingly picture unfriendly.
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